Following a disappointing start to the 2024 AFL season, AFL senior coach Alastair Clarkson and general manager of football Todd Viney joined host Nat Edwards to answer some important questions from North Melbourne members.

Here are five key takeaways from the most recent edition of our Member Q&A, presented by Spirit of Tasmania.

1. Success is built from the ground up

Asked about the club's current state and how the leaders planned to deliver improvement, Clarkson said a key focus has been laying a solid club-wide foundation to deliver future success:

"We knew when we came into the club 18 months ago that our footy club needed to fix itself up in terms of its culture and environment, and unless you get the administration and governance of the club stable, then it's difficult to have success.

"That's been our most significant focus over the last little while, and we feel like that’s starting to correct itself with Jen (Watt, CEO), myself (senior coach), Todd (Viney, general manager of football), Sonja (Hood, president), and our co-captains Luke (McDonald) and Jy (Simpkin).

"Would we have liked it to materialised into more wins at this point in time? Yes, but we know that that part of the club is stable now. We just need to plan on where we want to go and what we want to do. We need to stick to that plan and the longevity of that is what will produce success."

Viney added: "All the decisions we make now are (centred) around contending for silverware. There’s no shortcut, and sometimes the decisions we make in the short-term are hard and we’re probably experiencing some of that right now."

2. The senior players have recognised they need to lift

Questioned about the team's on-field leadership, Viney acknowledged the senior players needed to improve their performance:

"The first part about leadership is playing well, leading from the front on the field, so we'd like to see better performance across our older guys. I'm not deliberately putting the heat on them but (Colby) McKercher, (Harry) Sheezel, (George) Wardlaw, (Zane) Duursma and the other young guys - they need those senior players to hold down the fort.

"We'd like them to play better, they want to play better, we have lots of conversations around that in our leadership meetings and they've truly recognised that they want to be playing better. That will come. We've got to keep preparing ... and the form ... will turn around. 

"We've got Ray McLean from Leading Teams who's probably the most experienced leadership provider in the country. He's running a really good, high-performance program, and our guys are investing time into it."

3. Young Roos remain in a learning phase

Discussing the challenges of implementing a new game style, Clarkson said the Kangaroos will begin to click into gear as they gain more experience playing together:

"It's like when you first drive a car and you've got your mum and dad teaching you how to drive, everything seems so clunky.

"That's a little bit like how we're playing our footy at the moment. We'll get one part right, but then on the smooth transition to the next part we'll make an error, or someone won't be in the right spot.

"A lot of footy now is around the discipline of the roles to play and getting the coordination of all those 18 roles at the one time is enormously difficult.

"The more experienced you are and the more footy that you've played - particularly together as a group - the greater opportunity you've got of having success."

4. There's room for improvement on the track

Asked to respond to a recent newspaper column that targeted the senior side’s training standards, Clarkson accepted the criticism and explained that growth in that area is a challenge he and the group face:

"The standards of our group are not at the level they need to be, and that's what we're aspiring to (improve). That's why we brought in new players, new coaches to try and resurrect that.

"We've embarked on this pathway of investing in youth, and we acknowledge that that will come with some bumpy roads, and part of that will be lifting our standards.

"If we were training unbelievably well, I think that would be reflected in winning games, so it doesn't surprise me that someone who has observed our training has said 'I don't think the standards are good enough', because that's why we're sitting in the position on the ladder that we are right now.

"Our challenge is how can we lift those standards in our training, games, and environment."

5. The wins will come

Asked simply 'When will North Melbourne win a game?', Viney said results will come as the Roos improve their ability to consistently execute the gameplan:

"We've played some tough games against good opposition that are going to be involved at the pointy end of the season this year, and we've played some good footy in that where we've scored and displayed some positive things.

"We'll win when we can make a bigger contribution in executing that for longer in games. That might be this week, the week after, we don't know exactly. We do know that we've got to continue to roll up to do the work and execute the gameplan.

"Clarko and the coaches have got a really solid gameplan that's not too dissimilar to the best in the League, but we've got to make sure they can do it for a longer period of time."

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